Wichita father gets 20-year sentence in teen son’s slaying

A Sedgwick County judge on Monday ordered a Wichita father to serve more than 20 years in prison for killing his 17-year-old son in an argument over which day school resumed after spring break, calling the fatal shooting a “cold, heartless, soulless (and) cowardly act.”

“My only regret is that I can’t sentence you to more time,” District Judge Kevin O’Connor told Glen Farrow before doling out the 247-month prison term negotiated in his plea agreement. Farrow, 41, pleaded guilty to an amended count of voluntary manslaughter in April, about a month after Michael Farrow’s March 19 shooting.

He received the maximum sentence allowed under Kansas law.

“You shot your son in the back and you left him to die. I hope you think about that every day,” O’Connor said.

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According to law enforcement and court accounts, Glen Farrow pulled a .38-caliber handgun and fired at least three rounds at his son as the boy ran away from a verbal argument at Farrow’s home on North Minnesota. When authorities arrived, they found Michael Farrow dying in a nearby alley.

A witness to the shooting told authorities the fight was over “the exact date that Michael was supposed to return to school” following the weeklong spring break in March, court records show.

Farrow told authorities he accidentally shot his son when he was trying to get the gun back from him, the records say.

Michael was most recently a student at Wichita East High School. He was close to finishing his junior year when he died.

“Glen murdered my grandson in the most horrific act imaginable,” a tearful Diana Brooks said Monday, adding that she and Michael’s grandfather “do not rejoice in the sentence.”

“My head nor my heart can get wrapped around the fact that Glen of all people was capable of such a merciless act.”

Given a chance to address the court Monday afternoon, Glen Farrow apologized and called his dead son “my sidekick.” He said he didn’t think he deserved forgiveness from Michael’s family yet.

“I will never get to see him grow up to have any kids (of his own),” said Glen Farrow, his defense attorney at his side. “I took that away from him.”